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Category: Humility

What makes God happy? His redeemed people do. What does he delight in? He absolutely loves to take people who are in humble situations or adverse circumstances and lift them up. He loves making winners out of losers.

The biggest example of this, of course, is when God became man. He did this to take us from being lost, alienated and condemned sinners and bring us into the kingdom of those he loves. That’s where, as his found and forgiven children, we can enjoy his presence and kindness forever.

But there are many smaller (though still quite momentous!) examples throughout the Bible. Abraham and Sarah, a couple who couldn’t have children, became the parents of a people as numerous as the stars in the sky. David, a shepherd boy, would slay a giant and become a king over God’s people. Paul, a murderer, would transform into a missionary apostle and the author of much of the New Testament.

Whenever we go “from zero to hero,” our response of faith is to think, “I couldn’t have done that without God.” That’s what all three of the above certainly believed. They rejoiced to think that God was their Maker and their King.

And in that joy, they worshiped.

As you think back over the past year, perhaps you recognize that you were the object of God’s delight. There were blessings that came from your Maker and King. Perhaps God took you once or twice from a losing situation to a winning one. It’s quite certain that he provided for you and protected you in 2015 — especially through the difficult times and in the hardships you experienced.

That’s not to mention that he daily forgave your sins, and strengthened your faith through the teaching of his word and the blessing of the sacraments. And he enabled you through the Spirit’s power to walk a little closer to him, a little more deeply in his grace, a little more obedient to his holy will.

In that joy, let us worship. Because, clearly, he delights in us. And again and again, he crowns us with victory.

“Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;let the people of Zion be glad in their King.Let them praise his name with dancingand make music to him with timbrel and harp.For the Lord takes delight in his people;he crowns the humble with victory.Let his faithful people rejoice in this honorand sing for joy on their beds” (Psalm 149:2-5, NIV).

Lord, thank you for your provision and protection in 2015. I praise you for redeeming me from my sins and unbelief. I know from this — and from my own life experience — that you delight in me, your child. And I rejoice that you will crown me with eternal victory through your Son, Jesus Christ.

The way God works is sometimes counterintuitive. This happens in so many areas of our life. With God, for instance, we don’t find happiness by pursuing happiness. We find it by pursuing God. We don’t discover our true selves by looking to ourselves and following our own path. We discover our true selves by looking to Jesus and following his path.

And it works that way with moving upward in life. Most of us hope to see some kind of progress in our life. So we try to climb the corporate ladder. Or we try to move the needle on our saving accounts upward. Or we take the extended trip to discover ourselves. All of that, we hope, will tell a story of us moving on up.

We try to go up by going up. Seems natural.

But this too, with God, requires a counter-intuitive approach. God’s grace is the operating principle of the Christian’s life. That is, God’s undeserved love and favor on our lives is what makes our life truly move in a positive direction.

Earning God’s grace and favor is not possible. But we certainly can ward off that grace and favor. We do that with a prideful heart. By definition, grace requires a person to know that he doesn’t deserve it, to realize that he has not earned it. Pride says, “I did this. I have earned the credit for achieving and accomplishing this result.”

The two attitudes cannot coexist.

Which is why James says we are to humble ourselves before God, and submit ourselves to his will. Shout a loud “No!” to Satan, and a quiet but firm “Yes!” to God.

That may mean hitting rock bottom. It may mean pain, grieving, and getting really, really tired of where our rebellious streak is leading us. It may mean a period of time in our lives that is dark and gloomy and depressing. The fun and games are over. Hitting rock bottom hurts because rock bottom is hard.

But it also humbles us enough that we become willing to cry out, confess our sin, grieve over the hurt we have caused ourselves and our God, and finally — finally! — stop trying to lift ourselves up and make our own progress.

Because lifting us up is God’s job. And he promises to get his job done.

“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proudbut shows favor to the humble.’

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:6-10, NIV).

Jesus stepped into our world because he valued us more than his own life. He might have refused to get involved. He could have put his own interests ahead of ours.

But that’s just not Jesus. Jesus is the very embodiment of love. He is the incarnation of humility and service.

He laid out this servant’s mentality himself, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, NIV).

What a different attitude from that which our culture teaches us. How often haven’t we heard, “If you’re going to do “x”, don’t do it for someone else. And certainly don’t do it for me. No, make sure you’re doing it for yourself.”

Paul gives the opposite advice. He tells us to imitate Jesus’ humility and love. Live your life not to be served, but to serve. Give your life away for others, as Jesus first gave his life away for you. Be ready to say, “God is first. Others are second. I am third.”

Many people live to get honor and respect from others, or to earn perks and privileges for themselves. Christians too — much as we know about Christ’s gracious and generous mindset — can struggle with selfishness, greed and pride. Ambition and conceit are much too frequent guests in our hearts.

But in the Spirit’s power, we have been given the gift of choice again. The apostle Paul points us in the right direction. Now we are ready to adopt the same mindset as Jesus. We begin to value others above ourselves. We choose humility over pride. We select service over selfishness.

And we do it because we remember that Jesus chose us over himself.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:3-8, NIV).

Lord, I am sorry for all the times when I have put myself ahead of others, and even ahead of you. Please forgive me. Grant me your Holy Spirit and the wisdom that comes from above so that I can have the same mindset as you, Jesus. Help me to value and serve others above myself as you first valued and served me above yourself.

Like this:

Saint Augustine, one of early Christianity’s greatest leaders, once said this: “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.”

What do you think? Which verse or story in the Bible hit home with Augustine on the topic of humility?

It’s not an easy question. Because the topic of humility is a frequent topic in the Bible. In today’s reading, we’re encouraged by Isaiah to tremble at the word of God, and be humble and contrite. He tells us that God wants us to be remorseful and regretful over the sinful things we have done.

We are to remember that God is the One who made us. Without him, we don’t even exist. So he certainly has the right to set the rules for his creation. We should listen to what he says, and try to do it, Isaiah asserts.

That was just the Old Testament portion of today’s reading. Moving on to the New Testament letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul encourages the same quality of humility. He reminds us that God not only created us, he also recreated us. He didn’t simply form us. He transformed us. He took us from the dark side to the side of the light.

On that side, we are not to keep on trying to figure out what please us, but start finding out what pleases God.

And that takes great humility. It takes a sense of modesty and meekness to say, “God is smarter than I am. If there’s any debate whatsoever about what I should be thinking, feeling, or doing, then I’m going to go with God’s way, not my way.”

In other words, faith, not pride, will show us the way to what is good, right and true. What Augustine said is really true. Humility, not arrogance, will build the tower that pierces the clouds.

Because humility starts with Jesus, not with me. Humility knows to think much less about self, and think much more about clinging to our Savior so that we can receive his goodness, righteousness and truth — all given to us as a free gift. Humility leads us to the cross for forgiveness, and to the empty tomb for power and life.

As you ponder your own humility (or need thereof), think of it this way. No humility, no foundation. No foundation, nothing else lasting gets built. Humility is the essential first step to a life of noble purpose.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the Lord. ‘These are the ones I look on with favor:those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word'” (Isaiah 66:1-2, NIV).

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)and find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-10, NIV).

Lord, grant me a humble heart. Give me repentance that leads my heart to the cross and the empty tomb — a heart that looks to Jesus for all that is good, right and true in life.

It’s called the “big reveal.” Maybe it’s one of those TV programs like Extreme Weight Loss, where a person has lost a major amount of weight and gotten themselves back into shape. Maybe it’s a show on HGTV like Fixer Upper, where a wreck of a house is turned into a gorgeous home.

It’s an emotional moment. A major transformation has occurred. And it’s very satisfying to see the end result of a lot of hard work.

Sometimes we too look back at work we’ve accomplished, and it brings us great satisfaction. We feel something important and valuable has been accomplished. And that feels good. We’re extremely enthusiastic about what’s been accomplished.

This is exactly where Paul is emotionally as he nears the end of three missionary journeys and more than a dozen years of work. He’s excited about all that’s been accomplished.

But it’s pretty cool to see how humbly Paul approaches those accomplishments. They’re not really his accomplishments at all, Paul writes. They’re Jesus’ accomplishments. He was merely the conduit for those blessings that the Gentiles are enjoying. The glory all belongs to Christ.

It was Paul’s service. But it was God’s achievement. God’s success. Paul is no less proud of all this — not because of what he had done, but because of what Jesus had done.

As we look back on the things we’ve accomplished in the past year — or the past decade — as we review our service to God, to our families, to our places of work, to our neighborhoods and communities — how do we see it? Do we see it as something we accomplished, something we can boast about, something that will bring glory and renown to us?

Or do we recognize that we were merely the conduit, the person that God was working through, so that he could accomplish what he wanted to accomplish through us? Do we realize that the important thing is to lift God’s name high, and bring glory to Jesus rather than to ourselves?

“Soli deo gloria,” the early Roman Christians used to say, using Latin, the language of their homeland. To God alone be the glory!

“Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done” (Romans 15:17-18, NIV).

Lord, thank you for working through me to accomplish your purposes. All that has been accomplished through me is your achievement, not mine. It’s your success, and your glory. And that is my joy! May all I think, do and say bring glory to you alone!